In Year 6, Connor Hale was an entrepreneur of the playground. Not content with just selling the usual snacks and drinks to his classmates, the self-confessed 'nerd' 'bred Pokémon eggs' on his Nintendo console to sell to the other kids at a pretty steep rate of 20p a pop.
Now, at the age of 23, this month, the Game Design graduate from Swansea has opened 'Nerdware', a comic book shop in Swansea market. Connor now spends his days geeking out over Manga, Anime and other comic books with his customers and said: "It is brilliant. I used to work in Amazon and it was always a struggle waking up in the morning, to be honest. But now I literally enjoy going to work, it's like a comic-con everyday. I love talking to people, everyone who comes in has a story and they tell me which cards and comic books they used to collect."
After graduating from University of Wales Trinity Saint David last year, Connor was watching his course mates from his Game Design degree move away to work at large gaming companies in London and Edinburgh. Wanting to stay in Swansea, Connor remained living with his parents in Clydach and selling his comic book collection online from his bedroom to save up some money. You can read more stories about Swansea here.
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Connor then decided to take his large collection of comics to Swansea Comic-Con, a comic book convention where like-minded people dress up as their favourite cartoon characters, go to panels and buy comic-related goods. In just two days, Connor made £6,000 and went on to set up shop at comic-cons across the country, eventually saving up enough to open his own shop.
"I was really excited. Before April, I was selling comic books on ebay from my bedroom. Now I have a shop in the market, it's all moved so fast. I've always been into my nerd stuff. I've been collecting comics since I was twelve, since the start of secondary school. I went to the library with my big sister who used to read Manga and I picked up a couple of books. I haven't stopped since - I would buy loads with my pocket money."
He later found fellow Manga fans at college and university, but growing up in the Swansea valley, Connor always felt different to his peers: "I didn't know many people who read Manga, I don't think they even knew what it was. Most people thought it was just cartoons. I didn't tell many people that I was reading it. My friends were into sports like rugby and football. I was quite different to be honest." You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Nowadays, Connor said comic books had become more mainstream and blockbuster films like Marvel had made them more popular with younger people. But Connor still proudly describes his target audience as 'nerds' and is delighted to be next door to Swansea market institution, 'Console Action', which has sold video games there for over twenty years.
"We call ourselves Nerdware. Some people consider it an insult but being a nerd covers everything: video games; comic books; Manga; Anime. I think we attract the nerds. Everyone wants to get more traffic down to this corner of the market. The footfall is definitely a lot less than in the middle, some people have never even been down here but then some people come to the market just to get video games from next door."
Connor's family have been just as excited as him about his new shop and his 17-year-old sister Safiya also works there part-time. It was Safiya who had the unique idea of putting a retro Pac Man arcade machine in the middle of the shop which customers can play on for free: "My little sister spotted it in a toy store and said, 'wouldn't this look amazing in the shop' and we bought it straight away. It was the greatest idea ever. It's gone down really well - people are trying to get the high score."
Connor said his parents had supported him from the beginning: "My dad and my mum have been really, really supportive of the shop. I give them an idea and they say, 'yeah go for it!'. They've always told me I'd regret not doing it if I don't try it, and it's lucky I have tried it because it's going really well.
"I'm very lucky to have friends and family supporting me," added Connor.
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